It Wasn't A Dream
by Silverbengal
Summary: Otto, Wing, Shelby and Laura go on a mission with Raven. When Otto gets shot, nobody can quite believe it. One-shot. Rated T for mild gore.


The gunman stuck his head out from behind the boulder. The boy with the white hair had turned round and was running back to his companions. Out in the open like that, he was a sitting duck. The gunman trained his gun on his target, making sure the middle of the crosshairs was a little ahead of the boy, and squeezed the trigger. BANG!

"Otto!" Raven yelled as the gunman retreated behind the boulder. Otto whipped round, and the bullet hit him squarely in the chest. Raven was at his side in a second, feeling for a pulse that she already knew was not there.

"Come on Otto," she whispered as Wing appeared on Otto's other side, "wake up."

Shelby and Laura, a fraction slower than Wing and Raven, knelt by Otto's side, Shelby next to Wing, and Laura next to Raven.

"H-he'll be okay right?" Shelby stammered, looking at Raven. Raven hesitated. Shelby was frantic. This couldn't be happening. She would wake up in a few minutes, she was sure of it. She would wake up in her room at H.I.V.E. and go outside, and Otto would be sitting on the sofa, laughing with Wing. This had to be a dream.

"Right?" Silence. Shelby burst into tears, burying her face in Wing's shoulder.

Wing hugged her, tearing his eyes away from Otto pale face and staring, lifeless eyes. He had a flashback of the mission to the Glasshouse, seeing Otto's clone lying dead on the ground, blood pooling around him. But this wasn't a clone. This was his friend. It wasn't a clone that was lying on the floor, staining the ground red. It was Otto, his best friend. He hugged Shelby tighter, blinking back tears. This had to be a dream.

Laura didn't say a word. She just sat there, totally numb, not quite able to comprehend what had just happened. Throughout her time at H.I.V.E., she had seen death more times than she cared to remember, but nothing, not even the death of her close friend Lucy Dexter, could have prepared her for this. Everything suddenly ceased to exist, except the body in front of her. It was Otto, her Otto, whom she had spent hour after hour with, laughing, chatting, reading, studying. Otto, who had saved her from the Glasshouse. Otto, who she had kissed once, and would never get a chance to kiss again. Laura closed her eyes, her shoulders shaking as she cried silently. This had to be a dream.

Raven took her fingers away from Otto's neck and closed his eyes, trying not to look at the pool of blood under the wound in his chest. For the first time in a long time, she heard a voice in her head, making her feel guilty about everything she had done.

"This has happened to hundreds of people because of you," the nasty little voice told her, "there's always somebody who will never get over a death." She silently told the voice to shut up. Raven looked over at Laura, who was crying quietly. She put an arm around the shaking girl. Under any other circumstance, it would have been Otto's arm around Laura's shoulder, but Otto was lying at their feet, the blood slowly draining from his lifeless body. Raven blamed herself. She always did when something happened to anyone she knew. She had brought the students on this mission, it was her responsibility to look after them. And she hadn't. This had to be dream.

The four of them sat there, each wrapped up in their own thoughts, totally oblivious to the rest of the world. Hours later, a Shroud landed to pick them up. Nero stepped out.

"What's the ma.." he started, then he gasped as he saw Otto. He stared down at one of his most capable and talented students ever, lying on the ground with blood pooling around a wound in his chest. This had to be a dream.

Raven stood up and walked over to him.

"Hello Max," she said, sounding tired.

"What happened?" asked Nero, shocked.

"He was shot," she said sadly.

Nero just stared at the body in shock.

Raven walked over to Wing and the girls.

"Come on," she said gently, "time to go."

The three of them got to their feet and walked over to the Shroud.

The five of them sat down in the Shroud, the ramp shut and the pilot took off, leaving only a pool of blood behind as they rose into the sky and disappeared.

It wasn't a dream.


End file.
